Capital punishment in California
Executions in California are carried out at
the San Quentin State Prison. The gas cham-
ber once used for the purpose of capital pun-
ishment has since been converted to an exe-
cution chamber by lethal injection. Two
chairs once sat where the restraining table is
now located.
Capital punishment is a legal form of pun-
ishment in the U.S. state of California. The
first recorded execution in the area that is
now California was on 11 April 1778 when
four Native Americans were shot in San
Diego County for conspiracy to commit
murder. These were the first of 709 execu-
tions before the Furman v. Georgia decision
of the United States Supreme Court. Since
1976, 13 people have been executed by the
state. As of 21 October 2007 there are 667
people on "Death Row".
History
Four methods have been used historically for
executions. Up until just before California
was admitted into the Union, executions were
carried by firing squad. Then in 1849,
hanging was adopted as the method of choice
(except for two Native Americans shot in
December 1851 and January 1852).
The penal code was modified on 14 Febru-
ary 1872 to state that hangings were to take
place inside the confines of the county jail or
other private places. The only people allowed
to be present were the sheriff of the county, a
physician, the District Attorney of the county,
who would select at least 12 "reputable cit-
izens". No more than two "ministers of the
gospel" and no more than five people selec-
ted by the condemned could also be present.
Executions were moved to the state level
in 1889 when the law was modified so that
hangings would take place in one of the State
Prisons — San Quentin State Prison and Fol-
som State Prison. According to the California
Department of Corrections, although there
was no law providing which prison was
chosen by the trial judge, it was customary
for recidivists to be sent to Folsom. Under
these new laws, the first execution at San
Quentin was Jose Gabriel on 3 March 1893
for murder. The first hangi